Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the State owned buildings currently not in use; his proposals for these buildings; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Reply from Minister of State Brian Hayes T.D.

The Office of Public Work’s property portfolio consists of approximately 2,200 buildings, both owned and leased. Of these, some 60% are State owned.

Currently there are approximately 100 vacant State owned buildings in the portfolio. Of these, 47 are former Garda stations and the rest comprise mainly former custom posts, coastguard stations and sundry other properties. A number of these properties are at various stages of conveyancing by the Office of the Chief State Solicitor.   

The protocol for dealing with surplus property is as follows:

(a) OPW identifies if there is a requirement for the property by any other State body.   Consideration is also given to the utilisation of the property asset by the wider public service bodies i.e. local authorities, the HSE, etc.  

(b) If there is no identified requirement, the property asset is then considered for sale or community use. The objective in the current challenging economic climate is to minimise the cost to the State in maintaining its property portfolio.